The Department of Justice has charged two employees of LA-area nonprofits with wire fraud related to their misuse of millions of dollars intended to help house homeless Angelenos.

"My message to every fraudster who steals from the vulnerable is clear: We will track you down, bring charges where the evidence leads, and work relentlessly to reclaim every taxpayer dollar you stole," Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the National Fraud Enforcement Division said in a statement.

The DOJ alleges that Michael Young, CEO of Culver City-based nonprofit Home At Last, misused $7.5M of the more than $75M his nonprofit was given by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, spending it on commercial real estate and other personal uses, according to a press release from the DOJ. Young is facing wire fraud charges.

Young took funds that were meant for homeless housing or service providers for that housing and instead, through a collection of fake vendors he created, used those funds to build a nightclub and bingo hall and to fund car restorations and vacations, according to the DOJ. In June, LAHSA canceled contracts with Young's nonprofit.

Another nonprofit executive, Donye Mitchell, CEO of the Los Angeles-based Big Blue Umbrella, was charged with misusing approximately $1.2M from another nonprofit, Amity Foundation, which received funding from LAHSA.

The DOJ claims that Mitchell lied when applying for the $1.2M grant and lied in status reports to the granting organization about how the money was being spent. The grant was supposed to be used for homeless people or people at risk of falling into homelessness, but Mitchell spent it on personal expenses, the DOJ alleges. In May 2025, after giving Mitchell more than $300K, Amity terminated its contract with his organization, concerned that he wasn’t properly using the funds.

Mitchell, Young and a third person, Special Service for Groups employee Lakiya Malone, were arrested Wednesday. Malone allegedly took more than $180K in bribes in exchange for referring homeless housing residents, including so-called ghost participants who didn't live at housing sites, to another nonprofit housing provider.

At a Wednesday press conference, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner connected the DOJ's charges directly to LAHSA, the embattled countywide agency that oversees funding for homeless services and housing.

"Make no mistake, HUD and the Trump administration will not tolerate the theft and the abuse of taxpayer dollars in our country," Turner said.

"LAHSA is riddled with fraud, waste and abuse, and those days of blank checks are indeed over," Turner added.

The agency has been a target for HUD, which earlier this summer halted funding to the agency while it launched an investigation into its practices. At the time, HUD pointed to what it called a lack of accountability alongside increases in funding for the agency. An August preliminary injunction halted HUD's efforts to suspend LAHSA.

In a statement, LAHSA said none of its employees are implicated in the cases and that it was cooperating with investigators.

"We appreciate DOJ’s efforts to hold these bad actors accountable and remain committed to ensuring that every recovered taxpayer dollar goes back to its intended purpose: saving the lives of unhoused Angelenos," LAHSA said.